Pacific-wide specialized research centers and institutions

The BPS Research Group was established in 2005 within the University of Bergen’s Department of Social Anthropology. Its members contribute to the development of a collective effort of comparative Pacific anthropology covering a refreshingly broad, ethnographically grounded range of research themes.

The Center for Asian and Pacific Studies is a research and outreach center devoted to promoting understanding of the Asia-Pacific region. It is distinctive in terms of its geographic scope with programmatic focus on East Asia, South East Asia, South Asia and the Pacific Islands, and it has a strong interdisciplinary focus. The complex interaction between the global and local in the Asia-Pacific context has become a major theme of the Center in the twenty-first century.

The Center for Australian, New Zealand and Pacific Studies is part of the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. The Center was established in August 1995 with funding from the Governments of Australia and New Zealand. It offers a program of courses about Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific in such disciplines as history, government, international affairs, sociology, literature, and fine arts.

CREDO is a multidisciplinary centre for research and documentation specialized in Pacific Studies, in particular in anthropology, archaeology, history, ethnolinguistics and ethnomusicology. Main areas of research: political constructs and religious dynamics in oceanian societies; local systems of knowledge with regards to personhood, environment, ritual, and objects; epistemology of sources.

CPAS is a research, educational and outreach centre hosted by the Department of (Cultural) Anthropology and Development Studies at the Radboud University in Nijmegen. It was established in 1991 to further enrich and enhance the quality of research on issues related to the Asia-Pacific region. The Centre also aims to stimulate greater general interest and understanding of the Asia-Pacific region.

The objective at the Centre for Pacific studies is to encourage study of the Pacific region. The emphasis is on anthropological research, broadly understood, about the region's wonderful historical variation, its religions and languages, the politics of its states, cities, towns and villages, literature, art, public and domestic ritual, kinship and household organisation, law – in short every aspect of social relations to be found there.

The Clark Center was created during Australia's 1988 Bicentenary to make ties between UT-Austin and Australia more concrete. It conducts a wide array of research studies that focus on the antipodean countries and their relations with the US: political and legal issues and institutions; trade and related economic issues; immigration and multiculturalism; issues of ethnicity, race, and gender; ecology and energy questions; the histories, literatures, film and art of Australia and New Zealand.

The Northern Mariana Islands Program is an initiative that fosters educational and research activities that advance progressive species and habitat conservation strategies for the Northern Mariana Islands. The program is a joint effort between the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, as the islands are officially known, and Northern Arizona University. It emphasizes local knowledge, scientifically-based decision making, and constituency-centered approaches.

The KURCPI (formerly the Kagoshima University Research Center for the South Pacific, KURCSP, 1988-98) is a research institute which aims to promote interdisciplinary studies on islands and island-zones in Oceania and its surrounding regions. Main areas of research: people-nature interactions; physical geography; social and cultural changes; medical approach to human ecology; political and economic functions of island nations in international communities.

American Samoa

The Samoan Studies Institute's mission is to ensure and promote the continuity of Samoan culture, traditions, language and heritage through an inter-disciplinary, comprehensive educational approach. Its research component focuses on such topics as both written and oral history, legends, indigenous art forms, music, language, geography, natural resources and archaeology, anthropology, political science, current affairs, and/or other relevant topics.

The Institute’s values and research practices stem from the broad research traditions of the Humanities and the Social Sciences. Main areas of research: social-cultural, economic, political and environmental change and development in Australia, Asia and the Southwest Pacific; Asian, Southwest Pacific and related ethnic communities within Australia and the region; changing relations between Australia, Asia and the Southwest Pacific.

ACIAR’s mandate is to plan, fund and manage projects across a broad range of agricultural and development areas. As part of the Australian development assistance program, ACIAR contributes to the objectives of advancing Australia’s national interests, promoting economic growth and increasing sustainability through assisting and encouraging Australian scientists and institutions to use their skills to develop solutions to agricultural problems in developing countries.

AIATSIS is a world-renowned premier research, collecting and publishing organisation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island cultures, traditions, languages and stories, past and present. Its functions were established under the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Act 1989. In particular, the Institute undertakes and encourages scholarly, ethical community-based research, and also sets the standard for ethical research in this area.

The Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), Australia's tropical marine research agency, is recognised internationally for its leadership in research into tropical marine environments and their living aquatic resources. Its mission is to generate and transfer knowledge to support the protection and sustainable use of the marine environment through innovative, world-class scientific and technological research.

CAEPR is Australia’s foremost social science research body focusing on Indigenous economic and social policy from a national perspective. The principal objective of CAEPR is to undertake high-quality, independent and multidisciplinary research that will assist in furthering the social and economic development and empowerment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people throughout Australia.

The Centre for Asia Pacific Social Transformation Studies (CAPSTRANS) at the University of Wollongong was established in 1999 to conduct interdisciplinary research with an intensive focus on social, cultural, economic, political and historical transformations in the Asia Pacific region.

Unique collaboration between Australia's top research institute conservation managers, the Centre’s major function is to document the biological diversity of the Australian environment through establishing the taxonomic identity and relationships of native plants, their geographical distribution, and their ecological relationships. These studies primarily concentrate on significant national plant groups such as eucalypts, orchids, grasses, grevilleas, mosses, rainforest laurels and the citrus family.

The major objective of the COSPPac - Climate and Ocean Monitoring and Prediction (COMP) project is the continued development of seasonal prediction capacity in Pacific Island National Meteorological Services (NMS). It's hoped that as the capacity to predict seasonal climate increases in Pacific countries, so too will the ability to implement strategies dealing with the management of climate variability and climate change.

The Climate Change Institute's vision is to build and support a cohesive community of climate change-related researchers and teachers at the ANU. It aims to contribute to climate change solutions through interdisciplinary approaches to research and teaching, drawing on the wealth of expertise across the ANU's seven colleges, and to connect its work to governments, the private sector and civil society. One of the Institute's research program deals with "Climate change & the Asia-Pacific region".

Climate Scientists Australia (CSA) is an independent group of senior working scientists with a mission to advance the use in Australia of balanced, scientifically-based information in decisions on climate-related issues. The CSA Secretariat is hosted by ClimateWorks Australia, a new partnership between Monash University and the Myer Foundation. The activities of CSA include publications and diverse events (such as visits to the Parliament House in Canberra).

CSIRO is Australia's national science agency and one of the largest and most diverse research agencies in the world. Its national research flagships are: biosecurity, climate adaptation, digital productivity & services, energy, food futures, future manufacturing, minerals down under, preventative health, sustainable agriculture, water for a healthy country, wealth from oceans.

The GCI contributes to evidence-based, progressive solutions to the problems of a rapidly changing world within the existing and projected frameworks of those problems: political, environmental, social, economic, technical. Main areas of research: food security and land use; healthy oceans; renewable energy; transforming policy, institutions and policy.

The Lowitja Institute is Australia’s National Institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Research. Main areas of research: Child and Maternal Health; Chronic Diseases and Cancer; Health Policy and Services; Social Determinants; Social and Emotional Wellbeing; Tobacco; Workforce and Capacity Building; Governance; Continuous Quality Improvement; Research Development and Implementation.

The Menzies School of Health Research is a medical research institute dedicated to improving Indigenous health and wellbeing. Established in 1985 as a body corporate of the Northern Territory Government, it now a school within the Charles Darwin University’s Institute of Advanced Studies. Main areas of research: mental health, nutrition, substance abuse, child health and development, as well as chronic diseases such as cancer, kidney disease and heart disease.

The Monash Sustainability Institute is tackling the big sustainability challenges head on with a distinctive interdisciplinary approach. Main areas of research: climate change, water and water sensitive cities, sustainable development, behaviour change for environmental sustainability, sustainability economics, social sustainability, governance.

With support from AusAID and the Department of the Environment as part of the Australian Government’s International Climate Change Adaptation Initiative, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology and the CSIRO are working with 15 partner Pacific countries to help generate scientific insight into the state of climate change in the Pacific now and in the future, under the Pacific-Australia Climate Change Science Adaptation Planning program (PACCSAP).

The Research School of Asia & the Pacific is the institutional focus of the research efforts within the ANU College of Asia and the Pacific. Its core mission is threefold: to foster outstanding research work on Asia and the Pacific, to nurture the next generation of scholars and to showcase and disseminate Fellows' research nationally and internationally.

The South Pacific Studies Group (SPCG) is part of the Griffith Asia Institute. SPSG was launched in 2012 in response to various calls from both within and outside Australia for the Federal Government, Australian Universities and other institutions to 're–engage' with the South Pacific region, especially Fiji. It endeavours to promote research, scholarship and public awareness, and develop policies to help alleviate the region’s economic, political, social and environmental challenges.

One of the most vibrant units in the ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, the State, Society & Governance in Melanesia Program (SSGM) is arguably Australia’s foremost centre for multi-disciplinary research on contemporary Melanesia, Timor-Leste and the wider Pacific. SSGM conducts policy-relevant research and advanced analysis of social change, governance, development, politics and state-society relations in this region, and comprises the most significant concentration of scholars (with 30 academics and 30 PhD students) working on these issues anywhere in the world.

Cook Islands

Cook Islands Whale Research is part of the Center for Cetacean Research and Conservation, which conducts and facilitates benign research on whales (particularly humpback whales in the waters of the Cook Islands) and dolphins. Multidisciplinary scientific research is needed to develop appropriate conservation strategies of cetacean populations. CCRC undertakes studies on the biology, behavior, and ecology of a variety of cetaceans.

Fiji

Born out of the University of the South Pacific’s 1999 strategic plan, the Pacific Centre for Environment and Sustainable Development (PACE-SD) has established itself as a Centre of Excellence for Environmental Education, Research and Community Engagement in the Pacific Islands Region. Research projects address the issues relating to climate change, the environment and sustainable development.

French Polynesia

Ifremer is a French oceanographic institute. In Polynesia, its main areas of research are: marine aquaculture, shrimp farming and pearl farming; fisheries; tropical marine biodiversity; renewable marine energy; monitoring of chemical contaminants in the lagoons of French Polynesia.

The Research Institute for Development (IRD) is a French and interdisciplinary research organization, which studies the relationships between human beings and the natural environment. In Polynesia, it hosts CPRBI - the Polynesian centre for research and valuation of island biodiversity, which brings together IRD, the University of Polynesia and the Louis Malardé Institute around major issues related to biodiversity and sustainable use of natural resources.

Galapagos (Ecuador)

The Center for Galapagos Studies addresses the complex interactions among social, terrestrial, and marine environments through an integrated perspective that couples human and natural systems. The primary question that guides the research, education, and knowledge transfer programs is “How can the social and ecological sustainability of a coupled human-natural system be achieved in the Galapagos Islands and beyond?”

The Charles Darwin Foundation for the Galapagos Islands (CDF) is an international not-for-profit scientific organization registered in Belgium and subject to Belgian law. It has been working in Galapagos since 1959 under an agreement with the Government of Ecuador and with a clear mission to work closely with Government Institutions, providing scientific knowledge and assistance to ensure the conservation of Galapagos.

Guam

Established in 2009, CIS is the focal Institute at the University of Guam for adapting and modeling sustainable technologies that meet the needs of island communities in the broader areas of the environment, economy, society, and education. With the emphasis on indigenous, island-focused sustainability, the CIS creates and provides opportunities for research-based models of renewable and sustainable energy management.

The Marine Laboratory serves the Micronesian region, including Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Palau and the Marshall Islands. The laboratory performs basic and applied research on the biology and ecology of tropical marine organisms, emphasising conservation and management of coastal marine resources. It also provides community services and university teachings.

Established in 1990, the Micronesian Language Institute (MLI) is a special part of the Micronesian Area Research Center (MARC). The purpose of MLI is to conduct research, service and teaching activities that enlarge understanding of the indigenous Micronesian languages of Micronesia, and further develop Micronesian language resources. MARC has also revived archaeological studies at the University of Guam.

WERI seeks solutions to issues and problems associated with the location, production, distribution and management of freshwater resources in Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia. Main areas of research: Weather and Climate; Surface Water & Watersheds; Groundwater and Aquifers; Water Quality, Production and Distribution; Water Resources Management and GIS.

Scientists working at WPTRC are finding solutions to issues faced by the people and ecosystems of Guam. WPTRC specializes in research designed to enhance agricultural profitability, stimulate economic development using natural resources, improve the quality and safety of food products, sustain and protect the environment with ecologically sound practices, improve the quality of life for the people of Guam.

Hawaii

The Center for Native and Pacific Health Disparities Research is located in the Department of Native Hawaiian Health (DNHH) at the John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa. It is currently funded by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities to support biomedical and behavioral research on Cardiometabolic Health Disparities in its priority populations of Native Hawaiians, Pacific Peoples, Filipinos and other Pacific-based Native Peoples.

The Center for Pacific Islands Studies (University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, School of Pacific and Asian Studies) brings together people and resources to promote an understanding of the Pacific Islands and issues of concern to Pacific Islanders. Its Pacific Collection attracts a worldwide audience, as do its international conferences, its Web-based resources, its Pacific Islands Monograph Series, and its award-winning journal, The Contemporary Pacific.

The College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHSS) is one of four colleges within Hawai’i Pacific University that deliver classes and academic programs in the fields of Arts and Humanities, Communication, Education, English, History, Languages and Applied Linguistics, Psychology, Social Sciences, Social Work. CHSS comprises over 100 faculty members, many of whom are actively involved in academic research.

Established by the U.S. Congress in 1960, the East-West Center promotes better relations and understanding among the people and nations of the United States, Asia, and the Pacific through cooperative study, research, and dialogue. The East-West Center currently conducts research in three broad areas: Environment, Population, and Health; Innovation and Economic Growth; Governance, Security, and Justice.

The Environmental Center is dedicated to the advancement of environmental management through education, research and service. It provides a crucial source of information to contribute to balanced, rational environmental management in Hawaii and throughout the Pacific. Research projects cover a wide range of interdisciplinary topics, from evaluating environmental regulations and water quality studies to the development of computer programs to aid environmental management.

Established in 2006, the Institute of Asian-Pacific Business Law focuses on areas of great importance to Asia and Hawai‘i, including commercial law, insolvency and secured transactions, corporate law and business transactions, securities, intellectual property, real estate financing, and labor law issues. The Institute's activities facilitate direct exchanges between the academic, legal and business communities in Hawai‘i and throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

The International Pacific Research Center (IPRC) has a focus on the Asia-Pacific region. It seeks to understand the climate system and how it may respond to human activity by conducting experiments with computer simulation models and by analyzing the many direct and remote observations related to climate. Its Asia-Pacific Data-Research Center (APDRC) provides easy access to a wide variety of climate data and products and conducts research to improve data products.

JIMAR was created in 1977 by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the University of Hawai’i at Manoa. Research in JIMAR has been concentrated in eight areas: ecosystem forecasting, ecosystem monitoring, ecosystem-based management, protection and restoration of resources, equatorial oceanography, climate research and impacts, tropical meteorology, and tsunami and other long-period ocean waves.

Originally founded to support research in U.S. National Parks, the Pacific Cooperative Studies Unit has a forty year history of working to protect cultural and natural biodiversity in the Pacific while encouraging a sustainable economy. Projects range from natural resource management to studies on cultural resources.

The Pacific Islands Benthic Habitat Mapping Center (PIBHMC) is tasked with the delineation of the benthic habitat of coral reef ecosystems throughout the U.S. Pacific Islands, including the Hawaiian and Mariana archipelagos, American Samoa and the remote, U.S.-affiliated islands such as Johnston and Palmyra Atolls. Products created by PIBHMC provide resource managers with comprehensive habitat maps on which to base decisions about Pacific coral reef ecosystems.

The Pacific Islands Water Science Center (WSC) is one of 48 Water Science Centers U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The Water Science Center's mission is to collect, analyze and disseminate the impartial hydrologic data and information needed to wisely manage water resources for the people of the United States, the State of Hawaii, and other Pacific Islands.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments (RISA) program was created in 1995 to better understand and respond to challenges associated with climate variability and change at the regional scale. Pacific RISA's areas of research are water resources management, coastal impacts, and disaster risk management in Hawaii, Marshall Islands, Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, FSM, Palau, American Samoa.

SOEST is an academic institution for ocean- and earth- related research through several research institutes, centers, laboratories and programs, and through the academic departments. SOEST faculty and staff conduct research in a broad disciplinary range, often transcending the boundaries between units and between fields of study.

New Caledonia

This multidisciplinary centre for Pacific Studies brings together historians, archaeologists, anthropologists, linguists, geographers, economists, sociologists, specialists in English and French literatures and languages, etc. Main areas of research: gender studies; mining activities and sustainable development; Pacific and French languages, culture and education; social tensions and reconstructions in Pacific island countries.

The Agronomic Institute of New Caledonia (IAC) supports rural development through research focused on sustainable agriculture, environmental conservation and rural transformation. The five scientific priorities of IAC are food security and diversification of productions; management of risks and security of productions; new economies and rural livelihoods; conservation of natural resources and biodiversity; sustainable use of water resources.

The Research Institute for Development (IRD) is a French and interdisciplinary research organization, which studies the relationships between human beings and the natural environment. Its main centre in the French tropical overseas territories is based in Noumea, New Caledonia, where research activities focus on ecosystems, natural resources, and marine and terrestrial biodiversity; climate change and natural hazards; societal challenges; health.

Ifremer is a French oceanographic institute. In New Caledonia, it works principally in the field of marine aquaculture and more specifically of shrimp farming. Other areas of research: valuing of natural resources and biodiversity; marine protected areas; integrated management of lagoons; marine geosciences.

The current research project of the laboratory of life and the environment is entitled “Adaptive mechanisms, bio-molecules and functional units of island ecosystems in southwestern Pacific”. It comprises four broad areas of academic and applied research: plant biology; interactions between microorganisms and metals in ultramafic soils; bio-molecules of plant biodiversity in New Caledonia and in the South Pacific region; marine ecology in reefs and lagoons.

GOPS is a scientific interest group comprising 17 universities and research organizations interested in the South Pacific region. Main areas of research: marine ecosystems; terrestrial ecosystems; climate variability/change and natural hazards; social constructions, policies and practices of “nature” in the South Pacific region; environment and health.

New Zealand

AgResearch's purpose is to enhance the value, productivity and profitability of New Zealand’s pastoral, agri-food and agri-technology sector value-chains to contribute to economic growth and beneficial environmental and social outcomes for New Zealand. Keywords: animal performance; plant and forage; land and environment; agricultural systems; meat and dairy foods; biocontrol and biosecurity; textiles and biomaterials; needs of Māori in the pastoral sector.

The Environmental Research Institute undertakes multi-disciplinary research aiming to inform policy and practices that will support effective environmental outcomes, improve and sustain the quality of New Zealanders’ natural and physical environment. The Institute builds on the University of Waikato’s significant strengths in environmental research across four themes: antarctic ecosystems; coastal and marine ecosystems; freshwater ecosystems; terrestrial ecosystems.

GNS Science, Te Pü Ao, is New Zealand’s leading provider of Earth, geoscience and isotope research and consultancy services. Its purpose is to understand natural Earth system processes and resources, and to translate these into economic, environmental and social benefits. Main areas of research: Earth science; energy and resources; natural hazards; environment and materials.

Landcare Research is a Crown Research Institute that drives innovation in management of terrestrial biodiversity and land resources in order to both protect and enhance the terrestrial environment and grow New Zealand's prosperity. Main areas of research: catchment-level ecosystems and ecosystem services; terrestrial vertebrate pest control; greenhouse gases; land cover and land use; soils and landscapes; sustainable land resource management, including natural and urban environments.

The Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies was established in 1988 at the University of Canterbury to promote and advance scholarship and understanding of the Pacific region, including Aotearoa New Zealand. The main areas of research of the Centre are the societies and cultures, past and present, of the indigenous peoples of Oceania (including New Zealand). In developing its research programme, the Centre is responsive to concerns expressed by these people.

NIWA is a Crown Research Institute established in 1992. It operates as a stand-alone company with its own Board of Directors and Executive. It conducts leading environmental science to enable the sustainable management of natural resources for New Zealand and the planet. Keywords: aquaculture; atmosphere; climate; coasts and oceans; environmental information; fisheries; freshwater and estuaries; natural hazards; pacific rim; Te Kūwaha - Maori environmental research; vessels.

The New Zealand Climate Change Centre (NZCCC) is a joint initiative by New Zealand’s Crown Research Institutes and three universities (Massey University, the University of Canterbury, and Victoria University of Wellington). It aims to enhance the capacity of New Zealand, both domestically and in partnership with other countries, to anticipate, mitigate, and adapt to climate change.

The New Zealand Climate Change Research Institute (CCRI) was established in 2008 by Victoria University to develop interdisciplinary research into all aspects of climate change, with a particular emphasis on work that spans the natural and social sciences. The CCRI undertakes and coordinates research about climate change relevant to international policy and New Zealand, with research projects on climate science and policy as well as on New Zealand’s response to climate change.

Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga (NPM) is a research hosted by The University of Auckland. NPM conducts research of relevance to Māori communities and is an important vehicle by which New Zealand continues to be a key player in global indigenous research and affairs. Its research addresses two crucial concerns: creative opportunities for Māori peoples; needs, problems and issues arising in Māori peoples (health disparities, educational underachievement, violence and more).

The Ngāi Tahu Research Centre (NTRC) was founded for the purpose of being a leader in indigenous scholarship and to provide a centre for the intellectual capital and development of Ngāi Tahu, the principal Māori iwi of the southern region of New Zealand. The NTRC was established in August 2011 as a joint initiative between Ngāi Tahu and the University of Canterbury.

The Pacific Research and Policy Centre provides an opportunity to significantly increase Massey University’s research activities with regard to Pacific/Pasifika issues and communities, both within New Zealand and in the Pacific. Current research strengths at Massey University with relation to the Pacific/Pasifika peoples include: agricultural development; disaster management; education; health and wellbeing; migration and immigration; social and sustainable development; tourism; volcanology; etc.

Plant & Food Research is a government-owned Crown Research Institute. It intends to produce more and better food with reduced environmental impacts and fewer inputs. Its research is organised across five portfolios: breeding and genomics; bioprotection; sustainable production; food innovation; seafoof technologies.

Scion is a Crown Research Institute that specialises in research, science and technology development for the forestry, wood product and wood-derived materials and other biomaterial sectors. Main areas of research: sustainable forest management and tree improvement; forestry biosecurity, risk management and mitigation; wood processing, wood-related bioenergy, waste streams and other biomaterials; forestry and forestry-based ecosystem services to inform land-use decision making.

The Stout Research Centre was established in 1984 to encourage scholarly inquiry into New Zealand society, history and culture in a collegial, interdisciplinary environment. The Centre is home to the Treaty of Waitangi Research Unit, which carries out independent scholarly research on Treaty of Waitangi matters.

Te Kawa a Māui - The School of Māori Studies at Victoria University of Wellington specialises in teaching and research on the Māori and Indigenous worlds. Its general areas of research include the Treaty of Waitangi and Treaty Settlements, claimant research in the settlement processes, Māori science, various aspects of Māori performing arts, tikanga tuku iho, the revitalisation of te reo Māori, sustainability in Māori business and Māori literature in English.

Through its research, Te Pua Wānanaga ki te Ao provides national and international leadership in Māori, Pacific and indigenous issues and sustainable development. This centre includes leading researchers in issues pertaining to Māori and Pacific Development, indigenous peoples, culture and language revitalization, Tikanga Māori, and Te Reo Māori.

The staff of Te Wānanga o Waipapa include nationally and internationally acclaimed experts in the Māori and Pacific worlds. They actively support Māori and Pacific development by promoting and advancing knowledge of Te Ao Māori and Pacific world views through teaching and research. Māori Studies aims to preserve and advance Māori language, culture and society. Pacific Studies aims to promote an understanding of the Pacific Islands and issues of concern to Pacific Islanders.

As part of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Victoria University of Wellington, Va'aomanū Pasifika aims to ensure quality teaching and research in Pacific knowledge, skills and understandings. Va'aomanū Pasifika comprises two programmes: the Pacific Studies Programme and the Samoan Studies Programme.

Palau

PICRC is Palau’s leading research and aquarium institution. It supports conservation and management for the perpetuation of marine and associated environments through research and education that is significant to Palau and relevant to the world. Main areas of research: coastal fisheries; watershed; Marine Protected Areas (MPA); long-term monitoring of coral reef health; sustainable management of coral reef and island ecosystems in response to the threat of climate change.

Papua New Guinea

The Melanesian and Pacific Studies aims to develop and promote the study of Melanesian and Pacific Islands in the University of Papua New Guinea. Its research topics include medicinal plants and indigenous knowledge systems; language loss and shift; governance, crisis and state in PNG; crime in PNG; rights, political representation and violence against women; political growth and socio-economic realities; gendered face of HIV/AIDS; customary land and the global pressures on development.

The Melanesian Institute (MI) is an ecumenical research, teaching and publishing institute. It is designed to help churches, government and other organisations speak more clearly to the needs of the people in Melanesia. Main areas of research: churches; marriage and family life in PNG; attitudes of PNG youth; problems concerning the land owned by or leased to PNG churches; religious affiliation in Melanesia; sorcery witchcraft and christianity in PNG; inclusive education on disability.

Motupore Island Research Centre (MIRC) is the University of Papua New Guinea’s dedicated marine and coastal research unit. MIRC strives to build capability and advance knowledge in marine and coastal resource management in PNG and the Western Pacific, through the fostering of local, national and international links; the adoption of multidisciplinary and proactive approaches to problem solving; and the delivery of the highest standard of research and teaching.

NRI is Papua New Guinea’s leading think tank on public policy and development-related issues and trends. Its research pillars and programs: Wealth Creation Pillar - land research, reducing the cost of living, and economics policy programs; People Pillar - universal basic education, and HIV and public health programs; Institutional Strengthening Pillar - improving governance, community and people, and institutional arrangements programs; Cross Pillar Projects: PNG district and provincial profiles.

Samoa

The Centre for Samoan Studies conducts research on a range of issues relating to and affecting Samoa, in fields such as archaeology and cultural heritage, Samoan studies (language, culture, history), development studies (especially on development issues relevant to the Pacific region). The Centre’s latest featured research projects are on gender and governance in Samoa, and on knowledge of traditional Samoan fishing practices.

The Scientific Research Organisation of Samoa (SROS) is an independent public beneficiary body. SROS aims to conduct scientific research and develop technologies which outcomes are of great value in the development and sustainability of value added goods and services for export. It also aims to achieve reduction on fuel imports and greenhouse gas emissions, and thereby address climate change associated threats to Samoa’s environment.

Tonga

The Euakafa Island Research Centre is based in the province of Vava’u, Tonga, which in turn is based in the South Pacific, between Fiji and Samoa. This Centre is working closely with the Vava'u community to collaborate with, and to help fund, both international and local initiatives. It aims to expand our knowledge of Coral Reef systems, Climate Change, Turtle Conservation, Regional Shark Population, Aquaculture re-seeding programs, Fisheries and Marine Mammals.

Vanuatu

The Pacific Institute of Public Policy (PiPP) is the leading independent think tank serving the Pacific islands community. It exists to stimulate and support informed policy debate in the Pacific. PiPP engages and connects principal stakeholders, promoting fraternity between the Pacific island countries and regional neighbours such as New Zealand and Australia.

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